Question about Next Gen. Ka-Bar's?

[C-J-G]

G'day people, how are we all? I have a question about the Next Generation Ka-Bar fighting/utility knives. My question is why don't we see them in many reviews?
Mad Dog knives had a few pages on their early web page that was about the testing process regarding the SEAL knife selection - they offered the original Ka-Bar as a "control" or constant option in the experiment/testing to set as a basic standard. Why did they not also include the Next Generation model/s aswell?
If anyone can point me in the direction of a website that has tested these knives please let me know, your assistance would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

C-J-G

 

[bishop85gt]

I was thinking of getting one of these myself. I would also like to hear what thoughts might be out there.

 

[rev_jch]

I have one in D2 its a pretty tough knife, quite a bit more "weighty" than the normal ones, but worth it. You may find a review in the archives. I have an old ontario F/U from the military and this one in D2 is much more tougher than the old issue.

 

[chemist]

I have one that I have used a little bit. Here’s some info and opinions that may be of interest.

From the brochure that came with the knife.
Blade – 7” high carbon, high chromium, cold rolled stainless, heat treat to Rc 56-58 with cryo treatment to -120F, double draw tempering, 0.165” at tang

Hand guard and pommel – sintered type 316 stainless with chemical and impact resistance, pommel is press fit to tang and pinned with titanium pin

Handle – Kraton G for good grip and chemical resistance

Gregory Walker – Editor of Fighting Knives Magazine, 18 yrs military as Ranger and Green Beret field tested the knife

Richard Shultz of Mission Knives gave design input for the serration pattern used

Tim Wegner designed the kydex sheath for the knife


My knife came with a plain blade and a leather sheath. This is a less expensive combination than with the kydex sheath. The leather sheath is average. I think it will do okay in normal hunting and camping use but I don’t think it would hold up to severe conditions like those encountered in combat operations.

The blade came with a double bevel. A relatively broad shallow bevel finished off with a much steeper narrow bevel to make the cutting edge. I changed the edge to a single bevel of about 20 degrees per side. This is probably a little thin for a utility knife but I prefer it. The clip part of the blade came sharpened and I have found that it is easy to re-sharpen it by putting the blade in the sharpening jig (Lansky type) backwards. The jig takes a good grip on the blade in this position.

I used the knife to remove some rather large (1.5 to 2 inches diameter) tree vines from the back yard. I batonned the back of the blade with a rubber mallet and used the knife to chop and pry with. The edge held up well with no rolling or chipping. I was kind of surprised that it did so well. When chopping, the pommel had a tendency to pinch my little finger and edge of my palm. When prying, the knife flexed more than I liked so I didn’t do much of that, remembering that knives are expensive, inefficient pry bars.

There is a recent post about the failure of a Cold Steel Recon Scout. One of the things mentioned in this post is that the cut down tang is made with two interior right angles. This apparently is bad in that stresses can build up at the right angles making the knife brittle there. The Kabar is made the same way. Could this be cause for concern?

 

[rev_jch]

any knife can break. The scout was trying to do the job of an axe, its not an axe.

The log was frozen, it was quite large, and if it was not frozen it was still quite cold, making it harder to cut, the carbon blade was cold itself. The knife was forced into a knot in the log? This is a recipe for disaster. could it happen to another large knife? Absolutely!! The only thing that would have worked better would be a wedge and sledge hammer. Now this is only going by on what the situation appears to be. It was poor judgment to try to split that log with a knife like that, especially in those conditions. I worked in survival equipment for 8 years active duty in the AF (88-96). It made no sense whatsoever to try and use that knife to split that log, not only because of its size, in those conditions it was a recipe for disaster. Ive seen the cheap old 3 bladed colonial issue stockmans help people survive, of course they were not being used to split wood (of course). I carried a F/U through desert shield/storm and 8 years of active duty service and never had it fail. I could split wood with it, but I knew its limitations.

A good knife does make a difference in a survival situation, but it also is only as effective as the person holding it.